Special Cranberry-Maple Muffins

cranberry maple muffinI have struggled and struggled with this recipe, as the muffins tasted really good but didn’t rise very well. It seemed to me as if the issue must be with the leavening. If you have acidic ingredients such as buttermilk, as my original recipe did, then you’re supposed to use baking soda instead of baking powder, but the recipe called for baking powder. So I’ve tried a number of different leavening amounts and combinations, but I never was quite satisfied with the results. After one especially disastrous experiment I got a Sally’s Baking Addiction post in my inbox (she’s one of only three cooking websites to which I subscribe) that was basically her version of this recipe, although with different spices. Boy, would it have been helpful if she’d made those muffins a week earlier! The version I had just produced

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A Tiny Tart Recipe and Its Variations

Putting tart dough in panstretching tart dough3 pans of cranberry tarts - cranberries in tart shell, addding filling to cranberries, and baked tarts

Over the years I’ve developed several recipes for mini tarts that use the same easy dough for the crust. They’re kind of labor-intensive, but in the end you have adorable, single-serving treats that are prettier and more interesting than most cookies but can still be picked up and eaten without a plate or fork.

I’m starting with the recipe that began it all, with lots of commentary. You can read all my insanely finicky directions and directives and then take your choice of the cranberry version or the variations that follow. Warning: Once you make these you will be obligated to keep doing it forever.

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